#
 

Industry News

December, 2017

Renovo, a mobility software technology company, and Inrix, the global leader in “connected” car services and transportation analytics, have partnered to draw new insights from highly automated vehicle (HAV) data and to integrate Inrix OpenCar with AWare, Renovo’s automated mobility operating system, in order to deliver additional value to users of these vehicles. The immediate focus of the partnership is two areas. The first is to leverage Inrix analytic tools into movement patterns of roadways and populations to harness new data streams generated from HAVs powered by AWare. The second is integrating OpenCar — an open, white-label digital dashboard platform — to run on AWare-powered HAVs.


John Bushman, Chairman and CEO of Walker Parking Consultants, has announced that the firm’s name has been changed to Walker Consultants to better reflect its broad range of expertise and services. Founded in 1965, it has been the world’s leading parking consulting firm for nearly half a century. “The Walker name has become synonymous with parking for over 50 years, and we are extremely proud of our legacy,” Bushman said. “However, during that time we have grown to provide other complementary services outside of parking. We want our name to better reflect the ‘holistic services’ we can offer our clients.” In related news, Helene Jewett has been named Business Development Representative for the firm’s Denver office. She will develop business relations throughout Colorado, Wyoming, Montana, Idaho, Nevada, Utah, Arizona and New Mexico. “We are delighted that Helene has joined the Walker team,” said Robert Stanley, PE, the office’s Managing Principal of Walker’s Denver office.


Connie Capone has joined SpotHero as Chief Financial Officer. The company’s first CFO brings extensive experience in operational, consulting and financial roles, as well as in managing venture capital. Capone will oversee SpotHero’s financial functions as the company enters its next phase of growth. “We are thrilled to welcome Connie to SpotHero,” said Mark Lawrence, Co-founder and CEO. “Her impressive background guiding growing companies will be a tremendous asset as we scale our business.” In related news, Matt Sullivan – formerly SpotHero General Manager for the Central region –recently assumed a new role as Head of Supply, senior-most leader of the company’s sales organization. Assuming his previous role is Nicole Wylie, newly promoted from her position as Director of Sales, Central region.


Park City, UT, has launched its mobile parking application, Go Park City, to make paying for parking more convenient. The app was created by Passport, the global parking technology leader. “Park City is excited to roll out the app to over 220 parking spaces in downtown to help digitize the parking experience for drivers,” said Kenzie Coulson, Manager of Fleet and Parking at the Park City Municipal Corp. “We want to make it as easy as possible to pay for parking, and we hope to reduce traffic congestion.” In related news, the City of Gainesville, FL, has launched the PassportParking mobile application. Parkers will no longer have to carry coins or cash to feed the meter; they can simply download the free smartphone app to manage payments. In other related news, the College of William & Mary in Williamsburg, VA, also has launched the PassportParking mobile parking application designed as a convenient way to pay for parking.


Mobile SmartCity Corp. has entered an agreement with the Town of Eastchester, NY, to provide its mobile payment solution powered by Pango. “We look forward to providing a customer-friendly experience, as well as address the needs of the town,” said John J. Incandela, President and CEO. “We Mobile SmartCity has now positioned itself to be a leader in this market, with its new professional management team and a superior IT and Development Division, which will provide seamless execution and strong results.”


Southern Time Equipment Co. of North Carolina recently became the newest U.S. Business Partner for Designa U.S.A. It joins the growing group of industry-leading companies to partner with Designa to bring future-proof parking systems to their customers. VP and GM Norm Hogg his company joined because it is a world-class company, with the industry’s best technology and a commitment to continued innovation.


ParkWhiz has expanded its service in Boston to make more parking available to drivers, with rates downtown as low as $17 for a typical eight-hour workday. Customers can now choose from more than 5,500 spaces at nearly 100 garages or lots in advance, removing the frustrations of driving in circles, surge pricing and parking tickets. The company will feature deals in congested areas such as Back Bay, Fenway Park and the Theatre District, which could save drivers up to 50% off standard rates.


Fulham Co., a leading supplier of lighting components and electronics for commercial and specialty applications, continues to release new emergency lighting products that are certified compliant with the California Energy Commission (CEC) Title 20 Code of Regulations for small battery charger systems. The latest CEC Title 20 compliant units include the FireHorse 7 (FH7-UNV-500L-CEC) universal voltage emergency electronic fluorescent ballast and the FireHorse FHEM16 series of adjustable square-head LED emergency lights.


Amano McGann, a provider of PARC systems in North America, reports that its dealers are having a banner year. They have experienced tremendous growth during the first three-quarters of the year, and with the close of September, the company is posting better than a 45% increase year to date versus the same period last year. In fact, August was the best month of dealer sales in its history. “This year we formed new bonds, expanded existing partnerships and made organizational changes to improve our focus and emphasis on servicing and supporting our customers and our dealers.” In related news, The Cobb-Marietta Coliseum and Exhibit Hall Authority owns and operates the Cobb Galleria Centre and Galleria Specialty Shops in Atlanta. Three parking decks, with more than 2,000 spaces, serve the area. To better manage its inventory, the authority has opted to monetize its parking operations. Amano McGann and distribution partner ITR began installing a new PARC system earlier this year, and the project is to be completed this winter. ITR will install Amano McGann entry and exit terminals and central
pay-on-foot stations that accept pre-issued parking passes, validations and credit cards.


At their mid-year meeting this fall in New Orleans, members of the PARC Group welcomed two new members: Access Professional Systems (APS) of San Diego and Access Control Group (ACG) of Pearl, MS. Like other member companies, ACG and APS are regional leaders in access control systems. PARC Group is a well-known, multi-national network of many of the top companies in vehicle access control technology and integration. Members meet twice annually and network throughout the year.


Cale Access AB, a leading supplier of parking and unattended payment solutions and related services, has entered into a worldwide distribution agreement for electric vehicle-charging solutions with Chargestorm AB, the leading supplier of “smart” charging stations and infrastructure solutions for EVs in the Nordic countries. This is to acknowledge that the e-mobility market is showing tremendous growth in many countries, and the demand for integrated parking and charging solutions for all plug-in hybrids and electrical vehicles is rapidly growing.


The University of California, Davis - Health has selected the AIMS parking management system from EDC Corp. for its permitting and parking enforcement operations. It will use the system to manage all aspects of issuing and managing permits and parking tickets. The AIMS Web customer self-service component will provide online permit registrations, ticket appeals and payments, and other account management functions. It will use the AIMS Mobile Android app along with AIMS LPR on two vehicles for enforcement. EDC will provide hosting services for the complete system.


Mary Beth McNair, a long-time parking industry account management professional, has joined Sentry Control Systems, America’s leading parking technology provider, as an account manager. She will oversee business development and customer service for company projects in Southern California. “Mary Beth McNair will be a tremendous asset to Sentry and our clients,” said Lester Mascon, EVP of Operations.


Phrame announced, this fall, its second round of funding from Blymyer Engineers, the nation’s leading design firm for utility-scale solar projects. “This investment is just the start of our relationship,” said Phrame COO Charlene Consolacion. “We share a mutual vision for a ‘greener,’ more efficient and mobile culture enabled by both companies’ engineering talent and vision.” The company will deliver its first namesake product to customers in early 2018. It is a reinvention of the license plate frame into a smart, military-grade-strength lockbox for safe car key and fob storage that can be accessed by car owners and service professionals.


Target Park Group, a leading parking operator of more than 200 locations in Canada, has expanded its services into the U.S. market, bringing its parking knowledge, leadership and customer care.  It has reached an agreement with the City of Hoboken, NJ, to manage and operate a 100-car parking lot downtown. Its state of the art ALPR equipment, with a live 24/7 control center, is designed to provide key technology that will allow only employees and permitted guests in the parking lot. 


Parking BOXX, the North American-based parking systems manufacturer and software developer, has partnered with IntegraPark to merge its access and revenue control equipment into its industry-leading Paris accounting software. The Parker Accounts Receivable Information System is said to be the only billing and accounts-receivables system developed specifically for the parking industry. The integration of the PARIS accounting software will permit parking owners and operators using Parking BOXX equipment to automatically bill active access card users, ensure compliance with parking lease terms, and collect automatic monthly payments through recurring credit card charges and bank drafts.


Robotic Parking Systems, a Pinellas Park, FL-based company, has conducted successful throughput testing of its recently completed 2,350-car capacity Al Jahra Court automatic parking system in Kuwait. TÜV Nord certified a peak traffic throughput capacity of 425 cars per hour. That’s the total number of cars per hour that can be handled in a combination of inbound and outbound vehicle traffic. Additionally, the average retrieval time for a single vehicle was verified as 177 seconds. “No other manufacturer in the automatic parking industry has this level of performance verification by an independent third party,” said CEO Royce Monteverdi.


Ace Parking, a privately held, nationwide operational and innovation specialist of parking services, has been selected by the U.S. National Park Service to manage on-site parking at the Muir Woods National Monument in Mill Valley, CA. It will be responsible for implementing the reservation system and on-site parking management to improve the overall visitor experience. The reservation system is designed to reduce traffic congestion and parking issues by allowing visitors to make reservations ahead of time for self-parking or to reserve a seat on the shuttle. In related news, Ace launched a GoFundMe campaign to raise funds for team members in the Houston area affected by Hurricane Harvey. Many were directly affected by the storm, suffering property damage as well as lost wages. Many locations were closed due to damage from the storm, therefore leaving team members unable to earn a paycheck.


CivicSmart Inc., an innovator of patented on-street parking sensors and other “smart-parking” technologies, was selected as a finalist to present this fall at the Urban Freight Lab Tech Day competition at the University of Washington in Seattle. The competition focused on real-world solutions to urban goods delivery problems. Company President & CEO Mike Nickolaus and SVP of Sales and Client Services Brad Magee presented its Loading Zone solution, which uses the company’s patented vehicle-detection sensors and electronic permits.


The City of Bellingham, WA, has partnered with parking management software provider NuPark to deliver a comprehensive host of solutions for its parking operations, including permitting, citations and LPR-based enforcement. Implementing the integrated platform supports the city’s initiative to provide better parking efficiency and convenience. The software offers it a centralized administrative management platform using LPR technology to evolve its parking enforcement from a manual to automated system. It also allows the city to move away from coin-op meters to credit card- based payments by integrating with the city’s mobile payment provider PayByPhone Technologies.


The Portland (OR) Bureau of Transportation and Portland artist Moshow the Cat Rapper debuted a new rap and music video this fall called “Parking Kitty,” after the city’s new parking app, to encourage Portlanders to download and use it for a more streamlined parking experience. Their embrace of Parking Kitty in its first four months exceeded expectations, the city said. Users have given the application rave reviews on both the App Store and Google Play, and 6% of all parking transactions are now being done through the app.


Berkshire, England-based Chauntry Ltd., the world’s leading provider of parking reservations systems, has launched Chauntry Loyalty Solution, a powerful new rewards program designed to help parking owners attract more parkers and generate customer loyalty. With the program, parking owners can allow customers to earn points whenever they park. Those points can easily be redeemed by customers for discounted parking in the future.



#